LAS VEGAS, NV - A recent sex trafficking operation run by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) caught 70-plus men during the week of the Las Vegas Grand Prix event.
Local news outlet 8 News Now was able to obtain detailed information on seven of those men. According to Captain Hector Cintron of LVMPD's vice unit, those seven men were arrested for "luring a child or soliciting a minor." Police said that all seven men were under the impression that they were meeting a teenage girl.
Arrest records indicate that the oldest man to be arrested was 64 years old and the youngest was 22 years old.
Each defendant has an open case in the Las Vegas Justice Court with a variety of sex charges against them, including luring a child for sexual acts. One of them, a 31-year-old, also faces a gun charge for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
That individual reportedly told police that he "carries a firearm when he is alone." According to the police report, the man acknowledged meeting a 14-year-old girl. He said that the $100 in his pocket at the time of his arrest was to "buy sushi."
According to 8 News Now Investigators, most men agreed to pay their "decoys" somewhere between $100-$120. One of the men who was arrested initially offered his decoy $120, but then lowered it to $100. Reports stated that most had cash on their person and some even brought protection; others negotiated sex without protection.
One of the other defendants, a 46-year-old, lists his address as being in Sacramento. He was reportedly arrested in his blue Lexus with California plates. He thought he was meeting a 14-year-old teenage girl. Upon searching his vehicle, police found two Viagra pills. The man denied that they were his and then proceeded to saying that he "has Viagra because his 'thing doesn't work.'"
Captain Cintron said that while the Las Vegas strip was inundated with tourists during the week of the event, the issue of sex trafficking plagues the entire Las Vegas valley on a nearly continuous basis. He said, "I want the community to understand that this is not specific to our tourist corridors. It's occurring in our neighborhoods beyond the strip."
In November 2023 authorities held a press conference where they stated that they are planning on launching a public awareness campaign to help increase awareness around sex trafficking and to teach the community what signs to look for in sex trafficking.
FOX 5 reported that leading up to the week-long undercover operation, dubbed F1, LVMPD said that hundreds of workers at hotels, airlines, and nightclubs were trained on how to spot the signs of sex trafficking in preparation for a week-long operation.
After the arrests, LVMPD Deputy Chief Nicholas Farese said in a statement, "What we're seeing in the human trafficking world is that these panderers, these pimps, they travel around the country and sometimes internationally, going where the money is. So, we weren't surprised to see people flying in."
During the week-long operation, police identified 215 people believed to be victims of sex trafficking, including five juveniles. Farese said, "These are five juveniles that were reported as runaways that we came into contact with, in various operations both on the strip and then in other areas of town, that are running away from a bad situation and then they're being preyed upon by human traffickers."
Police also said that LVMPD will be working with the NFL to combat sex trafficking in advance of Super Bowl 58, which is scheduled for February 11, 2024.
When asked to weigh in on whether the Super Bowl causes an increase in sex trafficking, Samantha Calvin, an instructor with Arizona State University's Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation who has been teaching and studying human trafficking for more than a decade, said that the Super Bowl does not itself create a spike in trafficking.
Instead she said, "Men who are women buyers and come to a new city for an event or a conference, the chances of them buying sex in that city are pretty high. So, it's not the Super Bowl or the Barrett-Jackson Auction or the Phoenix Open that creates trafficking. It's the people who already are buying sex and they come here and they buy sex here."
Local news outlet 8 News Now was able to obtain detailed information on seven of those men. According to Captain Hector Cintron of LVMPD's vice unit, those seven men were arrested for "luring a child or soliciting a minor." Police said that all seven men were under the impression that they were meeting a teenage girl.
Arrest records indicate that the oldest man to be arrested was 64 years old and the youngest was 22 years old.
Each defendant has an open case in the Las Vegas Justice Court with a variety of sex charges against them, including luring a child for sexual acts. One of them, a 31-year-old, also faces a gun charge for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
That individual reportedly told police that he "carries a firearm when he is alone." According to the police report, the man acknowledged meeting a 14-year-old girl. He said that the $100 in his pocket at the time of his arrest was to "buy sushi."
According to 8 News Now Investigators, most men agreed to pay their "decoys" somewhere between $100-$120. One of the men who was arrested initially offered his decoy $120, but then lowered it to $100. Reports stated that most had cash on their person and some even brought protection; others negotiated sex without protection.
One of the other defendants, a 46-year-old, lists his address as being in Sacramento. He was reportedly arrested in his blue Lexus with California plates. He thought he was meeting a 14-year-old teenage girl. Upon searching his vehicle, police found two Viagra pills. The man denied that they were his and then proceeded to saying that he "has Viagra because his 'thing doesn't work.'"
Captain Cintron said that while the Las Vegas strip was inundated with tourists during the week of the event, the issue of sex trafficking plagues the entire Las Vegas valley on a nearly continuous basis. He said, "I want the community to understand that this is not specific to our tourist corridors. It's occurring in our neighborhoods beyond the strip."
In November 2023 authorities held a press conference where they stated that they are planning on launching a public awareness campaign to help increase awareness around sex trafficking and to teach the community what signs to look for in sex trafficking.
FOX 5 reported that leading up to the week-long undercover operation, dubbed F1, LVMPD said that hundreds of workers at hotels, airlines, and nightclubs were trained on how to spot the signs of sex trafficking in preparation for a week-long operation.
After the arrests, LVMPD Deputy Chief Nicholas Farese said in a statement, "What we're seeing in the human trafficking world is that these panderers, these pimps, they travel around the country and sometimes internationally, going where the money is. So, we weren't surprised to see people flying in."
During the week-long operation, police identified 215 people believed to be victims of sex trafficking, including five juveniles. Farese said, "These are five juveniles that were reported as runaways that we came into contact with, in various operations both on the strip and then in other areas of town, that are running away from a bad situation and then they're being preyed upon by human traffickers."
Police also said that LVMPD will be working with the NFL to combat sex trafficking in advance of Super Bowl 58, which is scheduled for February 11, 2024.
When asked to weigh in on whether the Super Bowl causes an increase in sex trafficking, Samantha Calvin, an instructor with Arizona State University's Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation who has been teaching and studying human trafficking for more than a decade, said that the Super Bowl does not itself create a spike in trafficking.
Instead she said, "Men who are women buyers and come to a new city for an event or a conference, the chances of them buying sex in that city are pretty high. So, it's not the Super Bowl or the Barrett-Jackson Auction or the Phoenix Open that creates trafficking. It's the people who already are buying sex and they come here and they buy sex here."
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